For a designer making his international debut as creative director of one of India's most iconic fashion houses, Aseem Kapoor sounds surprisingly calm about the part that most designers fear. The show, he says, was the easy bit.
“The show is the easier part because you land up doing whatever you love,” Kapoor tells The Hollywood Reporter India, reflecting on Untamed, the Satya Paul presentation staged at Lancaster House during SXSW London following an invitation from the UK Department for Business and Trade. “This is the more difficult part because the kind of success and recognition we've got with the show, I want that to translate onto the stores and sales.”
That distinction feels especially significant because Satya Paul is not a young label looking for validation. It is one of the few Indian fashion brands whose visual language has already been woven into popular culture for more than four decades. Long before celebrity-brand partnerships became standard marketing practice, Satya Paul was dressing actresses and collaborating with artists.
Kapoor knows that history well. He has spent the weeks since joining the house immersed in archives that reveal a brand remarkably ahead of its time.
Founded in 1985 by designer Satya Paul, the label helped invent the idea of the designer sari in India, turning an everyday garment into a vehicle for contemporary art, graphic experimentation and mass cultural references. The brand became known for prints inspired by everything from international art movements to comic strips, film icons and abstract graphics, establishing itself as one of the earliest examples of wearable art in Indian fashion. It also pioneered high-profile collaborations, reproducing works by artist S.H. Raza as collectible silk scarves and saris with Disney.
The celebrity connection, however, remains central to Kapoor's thinking.
“There's no better way to reach India's heart if not through Bollywood,” he says matter-of-factly.
Cinema and Couture
The statement feels less like a marketing strategy than an acknowledgement of a reality that has shaped Indian fashion for decades. While luxury brands around the world increasingly rely on musicians, athletes and influencers, Indian fashion's most powerful amplifier remains cinema. Kapoor understands that perhaps better than most. Before launching his own label, he spent 15 years working alongside Tarun Tahiliani, a formative experience that exposed him to international fashion systems, sourcing networks and large-scale presentations.
Asked whether that period influenced him, he laughs at the suggestion that it might not have.
“It would be foolish of me to say that it had no influence. It had a huge influence on the work I do right now.”
His references, however, remain deeply cinematic. Growing up, Kapoor says he was captivated by Smita Patil. Not necessarily because of specific costumes, but because of her presence.
“I have always loved Smita Patil for her style, for her chicness, and the very confident posture she had,” he says. And if Patil represents one end of the spectrum, then Deepika Padukone sits firmly at the other.
“Currently, I feel that Deepika carries herself very beautifully,” says Kapoor. “She's got that poise and never looks vulgar, looks amazing always.”
The comparison is revealing. Both women project a kind of controlled elegance that feels closely aligned with what Kapoor is trying to build at Satya Paul: fashion that is modern without chasing trends, glamorous without sacrificing sophistication.
That balancing act was visible throughout Untamed. Rather than present saris conventionally, Kapoor chose to drape them as dresses and sculptural garments, allowing audiences unfamiliar with the garment to engage with shape and movement before tradition. It was a subtle but significant reframing of a category that Satya Paul helped modernise decades ago.
Not to mention, he had big shoes to fill. After the designer and his family exited the brand, the likes of Masaba Gupta, Abraham & Thakore and Rajesh Pratap Singh had stepped in as creative director. But the response to the London show, surprised even him.
“We were sitting in London in those beautiful rooms and we didn't know it was going to get so big,” he says. “The whole world seemed interested in something that happened in London.”
Part of that enthusiasm stemmed from how international audiences responded to the collection's refusal to perform stereotypical ideas of Indian fashion. The strongest reactions, Kapoor says, came from viewers who recognised the collection as Indian without seeing it as exclusively ethnic.
“They loved the whole idea of India, but in a very specific way,” he explains. “Everybody could relate to it.”
That universality has long been part of Satya Paul's DNA. While many heritage Indian labels built their reputations around embroidery and occasionwear, Satya Paul became synonymous with print. Polka dots, zebra stripes, abstract graphics, typography and art-inspired motifs transformed the sari into something playful and contemporary. It was fashion that could exist as comfortably in Mumbai as it could in Paris or Tokyo.
The Modern Satya Paul Man
Kapoor's biggest contribution so far may be extending that philosophy into menswear.
Untamed marked the global introduction of Satya Paul Menswear, and it quickly emerged as one of the collection's talking points. Safari shirts, relaxed tailoring and sharply cut jackets carried the brand's signature print language into silhouettes that felt internationally relevant rather than traditionally Indian.
“It was not limited to a kurta or a sherwani,” Kapoor says. “It was more for a global audience.”
Yet despite the modernisation, he remains adamant that the essence of Satya Paul must remain intact. “I didn't want it to feel like an Aseem Kapoor show only,” he says. “It should be a beautiful collaboration between the two brands.”
That sense of stewardship explains why he speaks less about reinvention and more about refinement. The mission isn't to erase four decades of history but to repackage it for a generation that may know luxury fashion through Instagram rather than department stores. What he wants to better, with him at the helm is the presentation quality. To present saris in new ways.
The next chapter could also include a return to the collaborative spirit that once made Satya Paul such a cultural outlier. Kapoor speaks enthusiastically about working with artists, noting that the sari remains one of fashion's most versatile canvases.
“We all are knowingly and unknowingly inspired by artists,” he says. “I would want to formalise it and have some great collaborations coming out.”
The commitment extends to craftsmanship as well. While artificial intelligence increasingly enters creative workflows, Kapoor insists that every Satya Paul print still begins with a human hand. Concepts may originate digitally, but they are ultimately sent to an artist, translated into paintings before being scanned and developed into finished textiles. And in a fashion landscape increasingly obsessed with speed, the process feels almost radical.
“I know that a whole lot of Italian and French artists used to come down to the Satya Paul office and have two-day workshops creating amazing artworks,” he recalls.
Then again, Satya Paul has always thrived on unexpected contradictions: heritage and experimentation, art and commerce, glamour and ambition.
Now, with Aseem Kapoor at the helm, the brand appears ready to write another chapter. And if Kapoor has his way, cinema might once again be at the centre of the story.